1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to drapery and more particularly to an apparatus that can provide fullness and a shape to drapery and will also allow the drapery to be easily folded during transportation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many homes, apartments and other dwellings use some type of window covering. Draperies, vertical blinds and venetian blinds are examples of well-known window coverings. Draperies are often preferred by consumers over vertical blinds and venetian blinds because they have a softer appearance. Draperies are elongated sections of fabric which are supported at their upper end by a number of eyelets, hooks, pins or other supporting means which are spaced along the top of the drapery fabric. The support means often are connected to carriers that are movable along an overhead track as described below. In this way, the drapery may be moved laterally along the track.
Draperies are available in a variety of materials, but drapery materials are preferred that are more readily foldable as these materials have a more soft appearance and may naturally fold over when the drapery is moved laterally to one side of the window when the drapery is opened. However, such readily foldable materials tend to sag at the plurality of supports along the upper end of the drapery. For this reason and for aesthetic purposes i.e., to provide a more full appearance, draperies require stiffness along their upper end to prevent sagging at the supports.
Heretofore in the industry, stiffness has been provided to the upper end of drapery fabric by permanently affixing sections of materials, such as by sewing, to the upper end of the drapery fabric. Most often a continuous strip of material is sewn to the top of the drape in conjunction with a hem that may or may not wrap around the strip. Another method is to attach permanent extra sections of relatively stiff material between adjacent drapery fabric creases along the upper end of the drapery fabric. The extra sections of material are collectively referred to as "the header" of the drape. In this way, the drapery fabric may still fold along its creases but will maintain an unfolded, bowed, "full" appearance between creases.
The additional thickness imparted by this extra header makes folding, handling and shipping of the drapery fabric difficult. As with any other product, the transportation costs for drapery fabric are increased if each unit of product occupies a greater area during shipping. Thus, for shipping purposes, it would advantageous to be able to fold the drapery fabric into a compact unit and then box the folded drapery fabric. However, the header makes folding of the drapery fabric difficult. When conventional drapery is stacked together, the width of the top of the drapery with the header is several times wider than the width of the middle of the drapery. As a result, it is difficult to box draperies and draperies are usually transported on hangers. Therefore, shipping of conventional drapery over long distance is difficult and is not very cost effective. For this reason, a great amount of drapery is produced or assembled in the local area in which it is sold.
It is clear that there is a desire in the industry to provide a "soft", readily foldable drapery fabric and yet to provide a full, not readily foldable upper end of that fabric. Conventional methods of accommodating these conflicting goals has resulted in the providing of extra sections of material permanently to the upper end of the drapery fabric. This conventional solution has resulted in inefficient transportation of the drapery and difficulty and expense to clean the draperies. For this reason, such drapery is very often manufactured and/or assembled in the local area where it is sold and must be professionally cleaned.
It would be advantageous, therefor, to provide a means for making the upper end of the drapery fabric relatively stiff to provide the drapery fabric with a full appearance and support between carriers and to provide such a means that would selectably allow the drapery fabric to be readily folded, handled or washed when stiffness is not needed or desired. Such means should enable use of existing methods and apparatus for supporting the drapery fabric and for opening or closing the drapery system which typically utilize the upper end of the drapery fabric. Therefore, a discussion of these existing methods and apparatus for supporting the drapery fabric and for opening or closing the drapery system would be useful.
A perspective view of a drapery system of the type currently known in the industry is shown in prior art FIG. 1. The drapery system 10 is comprised of a section of drapery fabric 12 having a series of vertical creases 13 provided thereon. Each of the vertical creases 13 point in the same direction (toward the wall or window being covered by the drapery). The drapery fabric has an upper end 20 which is connected to and supported by an overhead supporting rail 14. A pull cord 16 is attached to a master carrier (not shown) that runs through rail 14 and is used to selectively open and close the drapery.
A preferred means of supporting the drapery fabric and opening or closing the drapery system already known in the art is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The overhead supporting rail 14 has two channels 15 and 17 disposed through its length. The slide channel 15 opens along the bottom of the supporting rail 14 substantially along the entire length of the supporting rail 14. A number of carriers 22 are disposed within the rail channel 15 so as to be movably engaged with the rail 14. Each carrier 22 has a generally H-shaped cross section that allows the carrier to slidably fit within the slide channel 15. Being H-shaped, the carrier has a wide slide portion 23 which is disposed within the rail channel 15. A spacer cord 11 runs between adjacent carriers 22.
A series of supporting means, which are typically pendants 18, are connected to the upper end 20 of the drapery fabric 12 and are also connected to the carriers 22. The pendants 18 can be connected to a strip 19 of nylon strap which is attached to the drapery fabric 20 by any convenient means such as by being snapped on, fastened with Velcro.TM. type fasteners, welded or sewn thereto. Each pendant has a body portion 24 which is affixed to the drapery fabric 12 and also has a head portion 26. The pendant head portion 26 is relatively enlarged and connects to the pendant body portion 24 by means of a relatively narrow neck 27.
The carriers 22 each have a base 30 having a mouth thereupon. The carrier mouth 28 is sized and configured so as to receive the neck 27 of the pendant 18, typically through a snap fit. The pendant head portions 26 prevent the pendant head 26 from moving vertically relative to the carriers 22 when the pendant head 26 is snap fit into the carrier 22. Yet, the pendant is free to rotate about a vertical axis through the neck.
In this way, each of the carriers 22 are connected through the pendant 18 to the drapery fabric upper end 20. The pull cord 16 is connected to the master carrier (not shown) which is connected to at least one of the carriers 22. Thus, the pull cord is able to move the carriers and thus the drapery fabric 12 along the rail 14. When the pull cord is pulled in one direction the master carrier pushes the other carriers closer together and causing the drapery fabric to fold over itself and to be gathered at one end of the rail. The drapery system is then said to be in the open position. When the pull cord is pulled in the opposite direction, master carrier pulls all the carriers until they are spaced fully apart from one another. Now, the drapery system is said to be in the closed position.
In addition to pendants, other supporting means, such as a hook and eyelet arrangement, are also used. The system functions similarly with these other supporting means. For, example, a series of eyelets may be provided along the upper end of the drapery fabric. Then, a number of hooks are provided so that each hook may engage an eyelet and connect to the carrier. Or, a series of hooks can be provided along the upper end of the drapery fabric. Each hook then engages an eyelet upon a carrier. Preferably, the hook or eyelet can rotate about an axis through the hook or eyelet.